Narrator: Prepared in the neighborhood
of El Matareya in Cairo,
this is one of the largest iftar meals in Egypt.
On the 15th of Ramadan,
the evening meal for breaking the day's fast
is cooked entirely by volunteers,
but there is no way all this food
can only be cooked on the streets.
We'll be visiting chefs Ahmed Akram and Mohammed Ibrahim
and the women preparing traditional homemade dishes
to see how they prepare this iftar in such big batches.
In the streets, chef Mohammed is grilling 500 kilograms
of shish tawook, a type of grilled chicken,
which will be part of the main course.
In the morning, the chicken is brought to the cooking area
after marinating overnight in onions,
yogurt, mustard, and spices.
The chefs then load them into grill baskets
before cooking them over coals.
Narrator: The grilled chicken is then cut in half
and put on a metal platter for packaging.
In another area of the street kitchen,
chef Ahmed is making 170 kilograms of rice,
which is easier said than done.
Narrator: While he's unable to taste the food,
Ahmed makes several pots of rice with garlic,
onions, ginger, peppers, saffron,
cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, and bay leaves.
Narrator: While the main dishes are cooked in the street,
other items like mahshi and kebab halla
are cooked in 30 different homes
by volunteers who have experience making them.
They receive their supplies a few days before the event
from organizers like Ali Amin.
Narrator: In her house, Umm Mustafa is making mahshi,
or vegetables stuffed with rice.
Narrator: The first step of making mahshi
is making a tomato sauce.
Narrator: After mixing it all together,
they finish it off with cilantro.
While Umm is doing this, across the street,
Huda Hassan is busy preparing four pots of her kebab halla,
a type of onion-beef braised stew.
Narrator: Back at Umm's house,
she's hollowing out the vegetables
so they can be stuffed with the rice mixture.
Narrator: Once the vegetables are stuffed,
she covers them with stock
and boils them until they're cooked through.
Narrator: But to make enough mahshi
and kebab halla to feed an entire neighborhood,
both of these women have help.
Narrator: In the early afternoon,
volunteers pick up the mahshi and kebab halla
and bring them to the central kitchen for packaging.
Narrator: Volunteers form an assembly line
and pack every meal by hand.
Narrator: All of the food is carried through the crowd
and placed on 500 tables
stretching a kilometer down the street.
Narrator: And when the sun finally sets,
the community can enjoy their feast.